When Lincoln was assassinated on April 14 every year, a large number of relics of Lincoln's later years came to live in the Smithsonian Museum. It happened in one of the most lonely historical sites in America.
I should know. For more than a quarter of a century, I have been on a disappointing annual pilgrimage. My first time was in 1987, which was my first spring in Washington, D.C., when my future wife and I worked in the Reagan administration. After work, we went to the dirty neighborhood around Ford Theatre and found Geraldine's beef restaurant. The only attraction of this restaurant is a table near the front window, which can clearly see Ford's facade on Northwest 10th Street. We decided to wait and see what would happen at dinner. Of course, we think that a large crowd will come to mourn the most beloved president in American history soon. There is no doubt that the National Park Service, which has been managing Ford since 1933, will hold a grand ceremony.
At nine o'clock in the evening, there is nothing. 10pm-About 20 minutes ago, john wilkes Booth shot the president in the back of the head with his single-shot Derrigo pistol, which did not change the fate of the country. Then we saw the movement. A station wagon drove to tenth street. Inside is a postcard from an American family, with two children, a man and a woman. The driver pointed to the window of the theater as the car slowed down and slid by. The children turned their heads to the left and dozed up and down. The car kept driving.
That's it. This is the way for the American people to pay tribute to Lincoln on the night and place of his assassination. I didn't realize this at that time, but that was the moment when I wrote the book Search: 12 Days Killer of Lincoln. On the following April 14, everyone
Ford hasn't changed. In addition to inviting people to watch the vigil, the security and police of the National Park Service also stopped the night anniversary visitors. In 20 13, I was almost arrested in memory of Lincoln.
It's about 9 pm. I used to sit on the front steps of Peterson's house. Lincoln died at 7:22 am on April 1865. It is also part of the historical site of assassination managed by the National Park Service. I imagined that the opposite theater door suddenly opened, and the audience of 1500 shouted wildly and flooded the tenth street. I can see in my mind that the unconscious president was carried into the street. I imagine a Peterson resident opening the door at the top of the stairs and shouting, "Bring him in!" " The soldiers took him to where I was sitting. "KDSPE"KDSPs" crossed the street, and a guard pushed open an organic glass door next to Ford Theatre in front of her safety desk and shouted, "Get away from those steps! "You can't sit there, that's private property." I'll call the police. "I stood up and crossed the road. I explained to her that tonight was the anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. I serve on the advisory board of the Ford Theatre Association. I wrote a book about what happened. And those steps, I can't help reminding her, belong to the American people.
She stared at me, not understanding. I went back to Peterson's house and sat down. Ten minutes later, two parking lot police cars stopped. Three policemen said that Officer Johnson reported that a homeless man was lurking nearby. A police officer said, "Many people are sitting on the steps and urinating in the house." . "How do we know you won't do that?" You have no right to sit here. After a tense discussion, another police officer rolled his eyes and suggested that I enjoy the evening.
I brought two friends to reinforce last year. This country is celebrating 20 1 1- 15. The civil war lasted for half a century. That will definitely get people out. But no. Less than ten people showed up. I posted a disappointing report on Twitter. No comments were received.
The promise of things will be different in 14 April and 150 assassination anniversary. The Ford Theatre Association and the Park Service will transform 10th Avenue into just visiting, bringing visitors back to the scenery and sound of 1865. From the morning of April 14, this street will be closed to traffic. Ford Motor Company will operate continuously for 36 hours to adapt to the short-term arrangement of historical drama, reading, music performance and silence. Like 1865, street vendors will hold high small paper flags to celebrate the fall of Richmond and the effective end of the civil war until the moment of assassination.
At night 10: 20, everyone will be silent until the trumpeter breaks the spell. Then,/kloc-For the first time in 50 years, mourners will hold a torch vigil in front of Peterson Palace. I will also attend, which shows that my obsession with the assassination of abraham lincoln has reached * * *.
I was born in February of 12, Lincoln's birthday. I have received books and souvenirs about him as gifts since I was a child. When I was 10 years old, my grandmother gave me a printed copy of Booth's "The Mocker". Framed is a newspaper clipping from the Chicago Tribune on the day of Lincoln's death. But the story is incomplete and ends with a middle sentence. I hung it on the wall of my bedroom and reread it hundreds of times in my childhood. I often thought, "I want to know the rest of the story." I still have it today.
On weekends, I begged my parents to take me to the Chicago Historical Society so that I could visit its most precious relic, Lincoln's deathbed. I am eager to visit Ford Theatre in Washington, where my father took me on business. My childhood curiosity made me an obsessed lifelong collector, collecting original documents, photos and cultural relics of Lincoln's assassination.
Many years later, it led to this book: search; Its sequel, bloody crime; Even a young man's book, Lincoln's killer. I can't write without my personal file. In fact, I consider myself a crazy collector who happens to write books. There are some magical things in my collection that can arouse people's voices. They not only reflect history, but also history. On the 50th anniversary of/kloc-0, I selected my favorite relics of Lincoln assassination and some relics that brought me back to life. Walt whitman called it "a melancholy and tearful night"
Ford Plays (Cade Martin) Ford Plays
On April 4th, 1865, mary lincoln informed Ford Theatre that she and the President would attend the performance of Our American Cousin that night. Laura Keane is very happy. This program is a "welfare" for star actresses; She will share the profits, which may increase with the spread of the first couple's plan. A few blocks away, on D Street near Seventh Street, H. Polkinghorn &; My son printed a poster and distributed things in the street that day to attract tickets. But the events that happened that night made this ordinary local drama short story have unparalleled significance: it froze a snapshot of the past. "Before" For me, "before" is a snapshot of "before". The script is reminiscent of the opening scene of one of Lincoln's happiest nights: the president's carriage arrives at Tenth Street, and cheers, "Hail to the Chief Executive", laughter and hissing gas lights rang out in the theater. This also resonated with a strange sense of foreboding, which not only symbolized Lincoln's death, but also symbolized the end of Ford Theatre, which would be darkness for more than a century. Lincoln likes drama, and he also likes coming to Ford. Whenever I leave home to go there, I often take part in performances and other activities. I always glance at the posters hanging in the corridor. It reminds me that Ford is more than just a place of death. Lincoln smiled there, too.
There are words on the hat in memory of his son Willie, who died on 1862. The coat Lincoln wore at Ford Theatre was made for his second inauguration. (Cade Martin) Lincoln's hat and coat
Nothing in the president's closet symbolizes his position more than his hat. Long before Lincoln came to Washington, he adopted a trademark when he was a lawyer in Illinois. He chose an unusually tall hat to attract attention and highlight his height. Lincoln was 6 feet 4 inches tall, surpassing most of his contemporaries; His hat makes him look like a 7-foot giant. This is the hat he wore on April 14, 2004, and he took it off when he stood in the president's box of Ford Motor Company and bowed to the cheerful audience.
Lincoln's logo color is black. During his presidency, he wore a white shirt, black trousers and a thigh-long dress. On the night he went to Ford Theatre, he wore a custom-made black wool Brooks Brothers coat with grosgrain piping on the collar, lapels and cuffs. The quilted lining of black silk is embroidered with the outline of a huge American eagle, the shield of the star-spangled banner and the motto "One country, one destiny". When Lincoln was murdered, his body was hung on clothes with his life written on them. How appropriate. Booth's gunshot ended the scene. In the third act, Laura Keane walks up to Lincoln (her blood-stained costume). (Cade Martin)
Laura Keane's clothing samples
After Booth escaped from Ford, Laura Keane ran from the stage to the presidential box and found Dr. Lyell Charles putting Lincoln on the floor. She knelt beside the unconscious and dying president and put his head on his lap. Blood and brain matter penetrated into her silk dress from the gunshot wound, stained with festive red, yellow, green and blue flower patterns. Keane, like a Victorian bride, lovingly preserved her wedding dress. On this terrible night, she cherished her clothes. But it soon became a morbid curiosity. The stranger tried to take this small piece as a terrible souvenir, and finally she exiled the haunted remains to her family for care. This dress disappeared a long time ago, but miraculously survived five pieces. For more than a century, they have been legends of collectors. This example was missing until it surfaced in the late 1990s. According to a source letter attached by Kane's grandson, this letter is addressed to an old friend. This bright flower pattern is almost as bright as the day when clothing manufacturer Jamie Brock made this dress in Chicago more than 50 years ago. But the red blood has long faded and turned into a light rust color.
When I searched, I never let this blood leave my sight. The scene I wrote described what happened in the presidential box after the shooting. When I stared at the blood, I saw everything, and all the paragraphs were written.
This vintage print shows the bed and sheets where Lincoln died in Peterson's bedroom. This photo was taken the day after two of Peterson's boarders, Henry and Yuri Hawke, were assassinated. At 7: 22 am on April 5, 65,438+00 seconds, when Lincoln was dying, abraham lincoln died in a bed in Peterson's back house, which was too small for his body. The doctor had to make him lie on the mattress. The soldiers wrapped him naked in an American flag and put him in an ordinary pine box, a rectangular military crate. Lincoln, a former railway separatist, wouldn't mind such a simple coffin. After they took him back to the White House, sheets, pillows, towels and sheets were lying on the bed in the boarding room, which was covered with the president's blood. Two Peterson boarders, Henry and Yuli Hourcq, one is a photographer and the other is an artist, set up a tripod camera, took advantage of the dawn, crossed the T-door in the corridor from under the eaves and went back to the back room to take this photo.
"A sad arena", a writer called it Lincoln's last journey. A lock of hair cut by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton before the president died. (Cade Martin) Lock Lincoln's hair
Within an hour after the assassination, mary lincoln called Mary Jane Wells to Peterson's house. Mary Jane, the wife of Navy Secretary Gideon Wells, is one of Mary's few friends in Washington. They formed an indissoluble bond because of the same sadness: 1862, Mary Jane helped10-year-old Willie Lincoln to take care of him until he died of typhoid fever; The following year, the Wells' 3-year-old son died of diphtheria. On the morning of April in 15, Lincoln's death house was empty, except for one mourner (including Gideon Wells): Edwin Stanton, whom Lincoln called the war minister of the God of War. Stanton is an overbearing and widely respected cabinet minister, but he loves the president deeply, and this assassination is a profound personal tragedy for him. Stanton was alone with his fallen boss, cut off a lock of the president's hair and sealed it in an ordinary white envelope. He knows who is memorable. After signing his name on the envelope, he wrote down the address "To Mrs. Wells". Later that day, when she received the envelope, she wrote on her neat little hand with a pencil: "1865 April 15 Mr. Lincoln's locks, M.J.W"
She put the lock in an oval gold frame. At the White House funeral on April 19, 2009, she collected dried flowers from Lincoln's coffin. The card on which these relics are fixed behind the glass cover reads "Holy things in memory of abraham lincoln, the16th President of the United States", which is not the only hair of Lincoln who survived. Mary lincoln made a request, as did several Peterson's doctors and his autopsy. Someone stole it from Lincoln's head, and people can't help asking him how he took his hair to the grave. But Stanton/Wells Lock, with its unparalleled origin and intertwined stories of love and loss, is probably the most impressive one.
Secretary of War Stanton announced a reward of $654.38 million for the capture of Booth. (Cade Martin) $ 654.38+ million reward poster
Today, this is the most famous poster offering a reward in American history. 1865, which is a symbol of failure and an increasingly desperate search. When I was 19 years old, this was my first important harvest. I've been drooling over these posters since 10. When I was a sophomore at the University of Chicago, I found one in the catalog of a bookseller and ordered it immediately. I bought a poster instead of a used car.
Booth shot Lincoln in front of 1500 witnesses, escaped from Ford Theatre, galloped away and disappeared into an unknown place. Thousands of pursuers failed to catch Lincoln's assassin, which embarrassed the government. On April 20th, six days after the assassination, Secretary of War Stanton announced a reward of $65.438 billion for the capture of Booth and his two accomplices. This is an amazing number. The daily income of ordinary workers is about 1 USD, while the Ministry of War prints a large number of advertisements. Every penny of the hard-earned money was paid to dozens of pursuers, who were considered to be the chief culprit in the arrest or death of John Wilkes Booth and his associates.
/kloc-The 0/2 day raid on Booth released a torrent of anger (a smeared portrait) and ended in revenge. (Cade Martin) defaced photos
On the second day after the assassination, technicians from the General Photography Laboratory of Surgeons copied a popular on-demand photo of Booth, printed several samples and distributed them to the assassin's pursuers. This copy was sent to William Bender Wilson, a telegraph operator of the War Department who was also on the battlefield during the raid. Wilson wrote its origin on the back of the card: "This photo of J Wilkes Booth was given to me by the War Department in Washington when Booth was a fugitive. Simi. After learning of Booth's death, Wilson defamed Booth's image with a handwritten letter to express his contempt for the murderer: "... because the reason he said was just. Don't! Cowardly murder suits him better. This is chivalry, isn't it? He was born like a poisonous snake, died like a dog and was buried like a dog. Assassin and Cursed Booth Few other relics are so well preserved. They are/kloc-0 and the bullet that broke out in April, 865 and killed Lincoln. . (Cade Martin)
The bullet that killed Lincoln
Booth shot Lincoln in the head. The bullet entered under the president's left ear, passed through his brain obliquely and stopped behind his right eye. Lincoln never regained consciousness. You don't need an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but it's obscene to bury the president of the United States in his head with bullets. It must be dug up. Edward Curtis, an assistant autopsy surgeon, described the terrible work: "I started to open my head and move my brain to the orbit of the ball. We didn't find it soon, so we started to remove the whole brain. When I carried the latter out of the cranial cavity, the bullet suddenly fell out of my fingers, breaking the silence in the room, making a clicking sound and falling into an empty basin below. There, it lay on white porcelain, a small piece of black stuff, not as big as my finger, dull, static and harmless. However, maybe we will never realize why the world history has changed so much. I heard its echo in the basin.
Booth has two ponies (including this one) and a Spencer carbine. When he faced him, the Trade Union pursued him at Garrett Farm in Virginia. Booth's arsenal
Dellinger of Booth is just one of several weapons he bought for the plot to kidnap the President in March 1865. He soon took part in the plot to assassinate Lincoln. When Booth was killed, two pony revolvers and a Spencer were repeating carbines with him. He gave a revolver and a knife to George Azerod, who was supposed to murder Vice President andrew johnson. Atzelod gets drunk and runs away, throws his knife into the street and sells pistols in a shop in Georgetown. ) Booth lent lewis powell a knife and a Whitney revolver, and Powell bloody tried to assassinate Secretary of State william seward, but failed. Powell smashed the head of one of Seward's sons with a pistol and stabbed Seward and several other family members with a knife. ) Booth and his mockers brought a Rio Grande camping knife into Ford Theatre. He used it to stab Lincoln's guest, Major Henry Rathbone, in the theater box. Then he jumped on the stage and held his head above the heads of all the audience, so that they could see him shouting "Sic Semper Turnis". From a distance, the audience can't see the epigram engraved on the blood blade: "king of thailand/Home of the Brave"; "Freedom/independence". Strangely, both the president and the assassin accepted these views.
"Our country has put all the troubles on [Lincoln]. During the 12 days of his escape, Booth wrote on his pocket calendar:" God made me a tool for his punishment. ".Booth's diary
Contrary to popular belief, Booth never kept a diary of Lincoln's assassination. During the search, he took away a small bound pocket calendar of 1864, which contained several blank pages and on which he wrote several notorious records. Reading this book today is to satisfy the thought of an assassin full of vanity and delusion: "All the troubles in our country are caused by him, and God only regards me as a tool to punish him"; Chased like a dog in swamps and Woods, chased by gunboats last night until I became a strong man. I was abandoned, and Cain's curse was on me. I bless the whole world. Never hated or wronged anyone. There is nothing wrong with this last book unless God thinks it is wrong. It is easy to hear his pencil scribbling his last thoughts on paper. One can imagine that soldiers snatched it from him and leafed through it under the light of a burning tobacco warehouse, or that Secretary of War Stanton carefully examined it after it was brought back to Washington, looking for clues to the assassination.
The announcement of booth's fate. The profile announced the death of Booth.
After Booth's death, at sunrise on April 26th, Colonel Everton Conger, one of his patrol captains, was traced back to Washington to report to his superior detective lafayette Baker. At about 5: 30 in the afternoon, they went to Edwin Stanton's home together and told him the news. "We have Booth," Baker told him. The exhausted war minister has no energy to make grand language or historic statements. The statement he drafted, as well as the statement transmitted to the whole country by a telegraph operator of the US War Department, only contained the news that the United States waited 12 days to hear. While repeating the report:
The assassin booth was shot.
Washington war department. At 9: 20 am on April 27,
Major General Dix of New York State:
Booth was driven out of the swamp in St. Mary's County, Maryland by Colonel Barker's troops.
Booth took refuge in the barn of Garrett Farm near Port Royal. The barn caught fire and Booth was shot. His companion Harold [King David Herod] was captured. The bodies of Harold and Booth are here now.
E.m. Stanton, secretary of war.
A unique example, which is still unknown, appeared in a small regional auction ten years ago, and I added it to my file. Published here for the first time.
Apart from the history written on the head of the drum, this snare drum is no different from thousands of snares made during the Civil War. There is also a black mourning belt hanging at the bottom. (Cade Martin) Mourning Drum
Abraham lincoln's last journey began when soldiers put his body on a special train, which traveled 1600 miles and lasted 13 days from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Illinois. 1100,000 Americans watched his body in the big cities in the north, and 7 million people watched his funeral train pass by. Whenever Lincoln's body is carried out of the train for public viewing, the army will join the parade and March in the drums. In Springfield, the body was displayed in an open coffin for 24 hours. Lincoln served as a member of Congress here and delivered the famous 1858 speech "Split House of Representatives". 1On the morning of May 4th, 865, 1 1:30, when Abraham's father passed Lincoln's No.8 mansion in Illinois and Jackson Street, drums rang his father's motorcade for the last time. "KDSP" and "KDSP" are lost cultural relics recently discovered in China, one of which is lost dust and neglected cultural relics. This is no different from the thousands of snare drum made during the Civil War, which was used by a teenage drummer boy in an infantry company with 100 people. It has an unpainted tulip or ashes, a calf leather head, a painted oak edge, hemp rope and leather pull to adjust the tightness of the head and the brightness of the sound. This is Noble &；; Cooley Company is made in glanville, Massachusetts. This company was founded in 1854 and is still in business today. Its oak edge has been pounded by countless drumsticks, which is not found in any kind of civil war drum I have ever seen, and there is no trace of the drummer playing for any group or company. However, only a few inches away from the roll, the remnants of a black mourning dress still hung on the bottom edge of the lace drum. An extraordinary history was written in ink on the top of the head: "This drum was played at the funeral of President Lincoln in Springfield." On the day I got it, I held a pair of civil war drumsticks in my hand, being careful not to break the fragile bull's head, and gently knocked out the low voice of the funeral March.
Editor's Note: The story originally said that Booth fired an ounce of shot put at Lincoln's head. The plaque under Booth's Dellinger in the Ford Theatre Museum lists the weight of the bullet as "nearly one ounce", but the National Museum of Health and Medicine, which exhibited the bullet today, said that the weight of the bullet has not been recorded, so it cannot be weighed now because it has been permanently installed. 65438+1bullets in the 1960s are not uniform. A gun expert at the National Museum of American History said that 0.32 ounces is completely within a reasonable range.